Hello folks, I’m currently in my second year of University and began smoking marijuana early during my first year, only occasionally with a few friends on campus, or by myself if i want to take a bit of a load off after a hard day work.

Only recently have I started to take a serious look at the side-effects of smoking and eating the plant. All and all I’ve gotten quite a few mixed views.

Several government funded organizations and studies have found weed to be extremely dangerous, claiming that the drug can contain as much as 50 as the same carcinogens found in tobacco smoke.

Like this study by the National Cancer Institue
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9808/18/marijuana.cancer/

Any by this next study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (an affiliate of the NCI)
http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2009/02/09/marijuana.html

But at the same time, there are so many independent studies that contradict these claims. Like these four studies which found Marijuana to be extremely non-toxic.

Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. “Legalization: Panacea or Pandora’s Box.” New York. (1995): 36.

Turner, Carlton E. The Marijuana Controversy. Rockville: American Council for Drug Education, 1981.

Nahas, Gabriel G. and Nicholas A. Pace. Letter. “Marijuana as Chemotherapy Aid Poses Hazards.” New York Times 4 December 1993: A20.

Inaba, Darryl S. and William E. Cohen. Uppers, Downers, All-Arounders: Physical and Mental Effects of Psychoactive Drugs. 2nd ed. Ashland: CNS Productions, 1995. 174.

From my personal experience, thus far I haven’t noticed any respiratory problems or any real case of amotivational syndrome. Life has been pretty much the same, I wake up, go to the gym, work hard in school and then do it all over again.

So whats the deal here? Is weed harmful or harmless? I’d like to hear your opinion

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